12 Days of Christmas: Day 7...Explore

Happy Seventh Day of Christmas!! Today's challenge is to get out into nature. (Bundle up if necessary.) Then notice the splendor of God's creation. St. Francis was a godly man who preached the Gospel to all of creation, animals included. He lived a simple life, in what we would consider voluntary poverty. Many times, we feel awkward and stilted if we try to bring up God to strangers. One way we can combat this is to practice talking about God to the animals we see in nature. As we practice and become more comfortable with that, it will sound more natural when we talk to people. 

How can you bring the conversation to God when discussing everyday matters? 

12 Days of Christmas: Day 6...Share

Happy Sixth Day of Christmas!! On this day, we remember St. Egwin, the patron saint of widows and orphans. It is fitting that we look for those struggling to get by and do something to help them on this day. James addresses our need to DO SOMETHING about the pain around us when he wrote about faith and deeds in James 2:14-17. He directly questioned what good it was to wish someone well without doing something about their needs. John also writes on this theme in 1 John 3:17-18 when he questions if God's love is really in us when we see someone in need and do not have pity on them. When we can help, we should help. 

What opportunities to do good to those in need are around you? 

12 Days of Christmas: Day 5...Worship

Happy Fifth Day of Christmas!! Worship seems a fitting topic as we remember St. Thomas Becket, a religious man who was killed when he challenged his king's authority over the church. We worship God, not a man, not a nation, not a political party. None of these things can came before God. Before we are <national identity> or <political identity> or <relationship>, we are Christians. Anything that we put ahead of God or put on the same level as God is an idol. On this 5th day of Christmas, may we focus on God and His glory. 

How can you exalt Him, worship Him, and praise Him today and every day?  

12 Days of Christmas: Day 4...Remember

Happy Fourth Day of Christmas!! Some of the 12 days of Christmas are sad days. Today is the feast of the Holy Innocents, where we remember the massacre that happened in Bethlehem when Herod tried to kill the perceived threat to his throne by killing all boys under the age of two. Yet, this massacre would not mark the end of senseless killing and genocides. So let us learn today about what genocides are, genocides in history, and genocides that are happening today. We can research massacres, ethnic cleansings, and lynchings, both in our country of origin and around the world. Why is it important to learn about massacres and genocides? Because they are still happening today. If we choose to remain ignorant about them, we are crippling our ability to pray for both the persecuted and the people persecuting them. 

What did you learn today? 

How can you remember this? 

How does this knowledge impact your prayers? 

12 Days of Christmas: Day 3...Volunteer

Happy Third Day of Christmas!! Christmas is not meant to be a season where we GET as much as we can; it's supposed to be a season where we GIVE (of our time, resources, and money) to help others. Our temptation is to volunteer with and serve those who are similar to us, but this is a day to love and listen to those who are different from us. A lot of places get an influx of eager volunteers during the month of December, but there is a need for volunteers January-November too. Our culture preaches that our interests, our comfort level, and our preferences should dictate our actions, but I would challenge us to volunteer where the need is greatest instead of based on what WE are interested in. 

Where can you volunteer? 

Where can you continue to volunteer throughout the coming year?

12 Days of Christmas: Day 2...Fellowship

Happy Second Day of Christmas!! It may seem odd to focus on fellowshipping, on a day where we remember the martyrs and the persecuted, starting with Stephen. Yet, what is fellowshipping? In short, it is joining in a relationship and communing together. It is a community joined through a common interest or feeling. Our primary identity should be our faith, not our nationality, job, family ties, or any other description of who we are. This day, we are remembering and fellowshipping with our Christians brothers and sisters around the world. We are joining with our brothers and sisters in Africa, Asia, Central America, Europe, North America, South America, and all other places. 

Who do you know who is a fellow believer in Christ, but who doesn't share our nationality? 

Who can you invite over and invest in? Many international students at colleges and universities would LOVE to be invited into a local home for local holidays and events. 

Who can you invite over to join in your celebration and remembrance? 

12 Days of Christmas: Overview and Day 1...Give to Jesus

Welcome to Christmastide!! After the fasting of Advent, we are ready to celebrate for all 12 days of Christmas. 

Last year, I did a series on the 12 Days of Christmas, looking at the person of note, theme, song, and verse for each day. This year, we will look at the person of note and last year's theme, through the lens of 12 actions we can take during the 12 Days of Christmas. 

Date	Person or People of Note	2020 Theme	2021 Theme
12/25	Jesus	Celebrate Jesus’ Birth	-Giving to Jesus
12/26	St. Stephen	Christian martyrs and the persecuted	-Fellowshipping
12/27	St. John the Apostle	Loving and listening to those who are different from you	-Volunteering
12/28	The Holy Innocents (the children killed in Herod’s Genocide)	Those killed by governments. Refugees in our midst	-Remembering
12/29	St. Thomas Becket	Obeying God rather than man	-Worshipping
12/30	St. Egwin	Caring for widows and orphans	-Sharing (with those struggling to get by)
12/31	St. Francis of Assisi (in lieu of Pope Sylvester I)	Sharing the Gospel	-Exploring (in nature)
1/1	Mary	God’s response to the powerful and powerless	-Feasting
1/2	St. Basil and St. Gregory	The Trinity and Sharing the Gospel	-Giving (to people)
1/3	Holy Name of Jesus	The Names of Jesus	-Creating (Food/Treats)
1/4	St. Elizabeth Ann Seton (in lieu of St. Simon)	The way the persecuted church is supposed to act	-Rejoicing
1/5	St. John Neumann	As citizens of heaven, we are immigrants	-Sojourning
1/6	The Wise Men/Magi	Identifying biblical stories and commands instead of our culture's version	Have we realized what Epiphany means for Gentiles?

Happy First Day of Christmas!! Today, we are celebrating Jesus' birth, which begs the question: "What did you get for Jesus to celebrate His birth?" We normally are good at giving gifts to family members, friends, and coworkers, but what do we give to Jesus? There are many gifts which seem up His alley. We can make a donation in His honor to a Christian organization. We can buy something to help a struggling family, such as an animal or supplies for a steady livelihood through a group such as Heifer International.  We can do something for "the least of these" (the hungry, the homeless, the stranger, the prisoner), since Jesus said in Matthew 25 that whatever we do for the least of these, we do for Him. 

So what did you get for Jesus for His birthday? 

Waiting/Listening/Leaning into Silence/Darkness: A Fourth Sunday Advent Devotional

We have navigated another Advent today. We have just 6 days left in this season. 

Our culture struggles to delay gratification as we overindulge for a solid 4-6 weeks, but Advent is a time of fasting as we anticipate the feasting to come. Which better reflects the Christian walk: overindulgence and gluttony or fasting and moderation? 

Our culture pushes consumerism, even to the point of going into debt, as a sign of our love for others; Advent is about reflecting on the gift God gave us. Have we written God a thank you note for His gift? What have we gotten for Jesus on His birthday? 

Our culture has a great Fear Of Missing Out (sometimes called FOMO), but Advent is a season of paring down to the essentials, such as focusing on the Christ Child. How does a simplified Advent schedule allow us to focus on Jesus? 

Our culture encourages us to rush to the next "picture-perfect" activity with our family, yet Advent is a season of waiting for Christmas Day. Are we tempted to skip this season of waiting? 

Our culture cranks up the volume to maximize "holiday cheer"; Advent is a period of silence and listening for God's still, small voice. How can we expect to hear from God if we refuse to turn off the radio, the TV, the noise of the season? 

Our culture tries to chase away the dark of winter by cranking up the lights, yet Advent is about focusing on the Light of the World in the midst of the darkness. What can we learn about the Light of the World from a candle burning in a dark room? 

Making Room for the Christ Child: A Third Sunday Advent Devotional

Advent is a time of fasting. Advent is a season to reflect on receiving God's gift of reconciliation through Jesus and preparing to give Him a gift from us as well. This week, we will look at ways we can make (and keep) room for Jesus in our Advent schedules. Every year, despite our best intentions, our calendars fill up in the Advent season until we are rushing around too much to be full participants in Advent. Yet, many of our activities are secular instead of sacred, as we chase after the nostalgia of past Christmases. 

Advent is a season that starts 4 Sundays before Christmas. What would our Advent be like if we refrained from rushing from celebration to celebration? What if we kept the celebrations for the 12 days of Christmas and we more intentional about our season of waiting and watching? This year (2021), Advent starts November 28th and runs through December 24th. 

Many of us are tempted to fill empty spaces on our calendars, so why don't we pencil in the Advent activities that center around the Christ Child? Before we overcrowd our schedules with things unrelated to Jesus' birth, we can instead reserve space for Him in our calendars and our lives. So let us schedule time for the Advent devotional and the Christmas Eve service. Let us set aside time for contemplating what we can learn about Christ in Advent and reserve time for listening to Advent songs. Let us challenge ourselves to differentiate between Advent and Christmas songs, and choose to listen to them in their proper season. 

One of my new favorite Advent traditions is the burning of a Danish Christmas Candle. It has 24 marks on it, meant to be burned an hour each day leading up to Christmas. It is a daily time of stillness and pausing as the candle needs to be lit for a continuous hour to properly burn down. It encourages me to minimize my travel and trips, because it shouldn't be burned in hotel rooms or borrowed spaces. While the candle is burning, it's a good time to wrap up in a blanket, drinking a hot cup of tea, and listen to Advent songs. By burning this candle throughout Advent, I find myself making room and preparing to celebrate the birth of Jesus. 

How can we make room for the Christ Child this Advent season?

Approaching Gifts Differently: A Second Sunday Advent Devotional

Last week, we considered how Advent has been a time of fasting. This week, we take a drastically different approach to the concept of gifts: Christmas isn't about the gifts we give to other people or the gifts we receive from them. Christmas should be a time to reflect on the gift God has given us and that we are giving Jesus for His birthday. 

Let us reflect on the greatest gift ever given: Jesus becoming flesh to reconcile us with God. But we have turned Advent into a frenzy of list-making, shopping, and wrapping. Why? Tradition? Vanity? We mouth the words that Christmas is about the gift God gave us in Jesus, but we spend the bulk of our time, energy, and money on gifts for each other. We rush through reading the Christmas story (if we read it at all) so we can get to the gift opening. Instead of drifting along on the cultural current of consumerism, we can shift our focus to God's gift to us, and consider what gift Jesus would like from us this year. 

How can we represent the gift that God gave us in the person of Jesus? Let us brainstorm ways that we can make this into a tangible and meaningful gift on Christmas Day.

• Wrap up your "baby Jesus in the manger" from your nativity set to open on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. Open that gift first and take time to reflect on what this gift means for us. Write a thank you note to God for His gift. Pause before getting to the other presents and consider how this gift has impacted our lives. 
• Design a gift voucher about God's gift. Take time to look up Scripture verses and add them to the certificate. When God gave us Jesus, what impact does it have on our lives? What is He carting off from us? What does He add into our lives? What changes can we expect? 
• Take a spiritual gift survey to learn about the spiritual gift(s) God has given you. Consider ways to use this gift in the coming year. 
• We could reserve Christmas Day for opening God's gift and giving Him our own gift in return. We have 11 other days of Christmas where we can open the gifts from humans and give our own gifts to them. 

Now that we have taken steps to ensure that we will give proper time and attention to God's gift, let us consider what we should give to the birthday boy Himself: Jesus. There are poems and songs aplenty, referencing that Christmas is Jesus' birthday and we shouldn't leave Him off our lists, but this begs the question: What have we given to Jesus for His birthday? I view Matthew 25 as Jesus' wish list. When we are in doubt about what to get for the Creator who made everything, we can feed the hungry, give water to the thirsty, donate clothes to those lacking, visit the sick and the imprisoned, and so on. 

• We can give to a charity in Jesus' honor. 
• We can give of our time to volunteer serving those marginalized by society. 
• We can look for things in our house to pass on to those who are in need.
• We can decrease our splurges and overindulgences this season to have more to give to others. 
• We can make Jesus a coupon book of things we will give up or take on for Him. Schedule times over the next year to use up the coupon book. 

How can we prepare to receive God's gift this Advent season? What are we giving Jesus for His birthday?